PHYSIOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALASIA. 



1315 



parts indicate a probable fall of 10 inches. Bearing in mind the relative areas of the 

 colonies, these figures give a mean rain-fall for the whole of Australia of 21. inches. For 

 the whole of Europe it is 151^ inches; United Kingdom, 30 inches; France, 27 inches; 

 Germany, 32 inches; Russia, 14^ inches; Austria, 16 inches; Spain and Portugal, 14 

 inches ; Italy, 34 inches. 



In a country of such great extent and varied natural features, every variety of 

 climate may readily be found, but for any one looking at the question with a view to 

 using these varieties for health, they become reduced to those which have been made 

 available by settlement ; for it must not be forgotten that but a very small part of 

 Australia is inhabited, 

 at least in such a way 

 as a health-seeker re- 

 quires. Generally, Aus- 

 tralia, both on the 

 coast and inland, is 

 very much cooler than 

 corresponding latitudes 

 in Europe. In many 

 cases there is a dif- 

 ference of 10 of tem- 

 perature in favour of 

 Australia, and the snow 

 limit is fully 1,000 feet 

 lower than it is in 

 Europe, and since a 

 degree of temperature 

 is very nearly equal to 

 a change of one degree 



of latitude, it is equivalent to putting Australia, or at least parts of it, 10 farther from 

 the equator. We may illustrate this by a few figures. Perth, in Western Australia, has a 

 mean shade temperature of 64, and its latitude is 34. Algiers which is in latitude 36 47', 

 nearly 3 degrees nearer to the pole, is still as hot as Perth. The mean shade temperature 

 at Adelaide is 63. i, and its latitude 34 55', while Barcelona, in Spain, which is 6 l /2 degrees 

 nearer the pole, has yet a temperature of 62.$. Melbourne has a mean shade temperature 

 of 57.5, and latitude 37 50' ; Madrid, 2*/ degrees nearer the pole, a mean shade 

 temperature of 57. 6. Sydney lias a mean shade temperature of 62.5, and latitude 

 33 52' ; Toulon, which is 9^ degrees nearer the pole, a mean shade temperature of 

 62. 3. Brisbane has a mean shade temperature of 7O.8, and is in latitude 27 27', and 

 Alexandria, which is 4^ degrees nearer the pole, has a mean temperature of 7O.6. In 

 fact, if Australia were placed by its latitude over Europe and Africa it would extend 

 from Abyssinia in Egypt to the southern parts of France, but if placed by the temperature 

 of its inhabited towns would cover all Europe to the latitude of Edinburgh. Large 

 areas in Victoria and the southern districts of New South Wales have the same temperature 

 as the southern counties of England ; this is in part accounted for by the fact that they 



Til 1C TRANSIT TELESCOPE IN THE MELBOURNE OBSERVATORY. 



